French Canadian culture is not as concentrated in Michigan as it is, for example, in Louisiana. This is a notion that came up in correspondence this week with a friend who was responding to my recent post The Limits of Scholarship. As I was thinking about her observation, a blogger writing about Cajun and Creole Louisiana appeared on my radar, and the point was driven home. It’s true that in expected ways Michigan’s French Canadian culture is not a highly visible one.

It even began to worry me. I thought, perhaps I’m making this whole French Canadian culture thing out to be a bigger deal than it is. My friend wondered about how French Canadian culture is visible today, in rural Michigan for example. And numerous examples of a vibrant, living French Canadian culture did not spring to mind. We don’t have community centers. There is no annual, uniquely Michigan French Canadian holiday that brings us all together.

So it begs the question. What does contemporary French Canadian culture look like in Michigan? A short answer is that French Canadian culture is today, in large part, family centered, encompassing what might be called ‘heart and hearth’ traditions.

We have traditional foods that make their appearance at various times of the year, particularly Christmas, the New Year, and Lent. These are foods that connect us back to the earliest settlers and back to Quebec. Yet in this regard I have found that some people who have eaten traditional French Canadian fare do not realize it because it was a tradition passed down without much comment or it appears on a menu as ‘pork pie’ instead of tourtière or even ‘meat pie.’

We have a strong attachment to our deep heritage in the Great Lakes and North America. French Canadians are proud of their genealogies and have a personal understanding of our communal interconnectedness. Many of us call each other cousins because most French Canadians share some ancestry, even if its seven or eight generations back.

That sense of interconnectedness extends not just to other French Canadians, but also to Native Americans, First Nations, and Metis peoples. Anecdotal evidence from conversations, public discussion forums, and personal stories, as well as ample historical evidence, supports the belief that Great Lakes French Canadians are in fact technically metis, or as I’ve heard many people refer to themselves, Part Indian. This is a sense of ourselves and our culture that is definable and real. It is a legacy that is not just about genealogy.

It is not a stretch to say that Great Lakes French Canadians comprise a traditional culture. There is a stereotype, one that I’ve encountered as recently as this year, that French Canadians in Michigan are a bit like traditional Appalachians, to put a positive spin on it. A more negative stereotype I’ve heard is ‘white trash’ or ‘hillbilly’.

As with any stereotype, there may be a grain of truth. I prefer to say ‘hard-working, blue-collar’ folks rather than use those negative monikers as some people do. Another friend mentioned recently that she researched education levels and found that according to the 1990 census, French Canadians had one of the lowest rates of completion of higher education at 20%, with Cajuns at 15%. My belief is that this is a question of values as well as opportunity. Do we all need advanced degrees? (UPDATED: 2011 estimates show Michigan’s French Canadians with 21.4% rate of Bachelor’s degrees or higher, versus 25.3% of the general population statewide, and 28.5% of the general population nationally.)

So, what would a culture that grew out of the North American fur trade look like if it didn’t have rural living, hunting, fishing, trapping, wild harvesting, and an oral tradition as integral parts of it? The reality is, French Canadian culture is rooted in an area inhabited by the French since the 1600s and by Native Americans since time immemorial. The culture that exists today grew out of their engagement, and how it manifests today can be traced through the unfolding of history.

When French Canadian culture does appear on the public radar, it is often not recognized as such. Even the history of Detroit often does not get told back to its origins, effectively eliminating the French and Indians from the story. You might think Henry Ford founded Detroit instead of Cadillac.

It is important that people know that the lively and inspired Marche du Nain Rouge in Detroit comes from a traditional French Canadian, Detroit-based folktale. Can you imagine New Orleans’ Mardi Gras being denied its French/Cajun/Creole roots?

Smaller local customs also pass by with seemingly little awareness of their roots. The Sturgeon Shivaree on Black Lake in Cheboygan County is of a piece with the chivaree of Ontario and the ancient charivari of old Quebec and France, taking a raucous wedding ritual and turning it into hope for the renewal of a precious part of nature.

My observation is that this sort of understatement or self-consciousness is itself a manifestation of the French Canadian experience in the Great Lakes. Historian Susan Sleeper-Smith has written that the descendants of mixed French and Indian marriages living in Michigan in the early 19th century were faced with an onslaught of Anglo-American ‘pioneers’ coming to farm what they thought was vacant land.

Survival for the people already in residence meant adapting to American authority. Indians in some communities and French Metis in others “hid in plain view” behind a facade that was acceptable to the white Easterners who would quickly become the majority (See Indian Women and French Men, p8, by Susan Sleeper-Smith.)

I believe the same can be said of the early French Canadians who, in the eyes of American and British officials alike, were indistinguishable from the Indians and their metis children. They too found no profit in being different, whether it was as French Metis or French Canadian. They too began a long process of hiding in plain view that resulted in the loss of language, traditions, and in some cases even their French names.

Yet in the 200 years since the War of 1812, French Canadian culture in Michigan and the Great Lakes is still a topic of discussion. It’s still inspiring public events. It’s still bringing people together in long discussions about identity, common ancestry, tradition, and values.

Understatement however can have its repercussions. At some point you have to reclaim what is yours. It is not too late for Michigan’s French Canadians. Our stories are still there. Our foods are still prepared. Old traditions can be made new again. In fact, the optimist in me says that our time as a unique North American culture connected by kinship and history to communities from Quebec to Louisiana, is just about to get its second wind.

22 thoughts on “French Canadians in Michigan Today”

I just joined this group. Was reading your post and loved it. I am originally from the UP (living in the Mason/Lansing area ) and even though the Finnish get most of the media attention, there is a group in Houghton County that is very much involved with French Canadian culture. I am hoping to learn more and get more involved in the near future.

Cheryl,
Thank you so much for writing. I’m glad you joined the FCHSM group. Just to clarify, I write just as myself – I’m a member of the FCHSM, but this blog is not “an arm of the group” so to speak. I too have read a little about the French Canadian group in Houghton which is great. I hope everyone who has the ability will start a little club in their own town or neighborhood or church. Everything starts small. Or in our case, we have 400 years of history and culture to draw on!
Best Regards,
James

It is sad but true that many of us lost our French Canadian and Indian roots in the rush to be Americans. But many of us “cousins” are finding each other at places like ancestry.com where once again we are proud to be French Canadians and Metis. I see a revival in the future for us in Michigan!

Sherri – Thanks for writing! We do have a real community. I also hope for a revival. Not living there right now, I take part by writing, rewriting old French Canadian Metis folk tales, and I’ve taken up fiddle – learning the songs my grandfather used to play! There’s something for everyone!
Best regards,
James

James: the 1990 figures education attainment percentages were for F-C’s and Cajuns nationwide, not just Michigan. It would be interesting to see how those percentages are across state lines. I can’t help but wonder if the reason more of us are educated is that there are fewer and fewer well-paid blue collar jobs available in which one can support a family well on these days.

Thanks for that clarification Michelle. For comparison I extracted the following from the 2011 3-year estimates in the census. It’s worth noting the still significant lag in Michigan, which I think supports my overall perspective on things particularly when combined with the higher rate of military service. Food for thought anyway.

US Bachelor’s or higher 2011
28.5% general population
29.1% French Canadian
27.9% Cajun

Michigan Bachelor’s or higher 2011
25.3% general population
21.4% French Canadian

Veterans 2011 United States
9.1% general population
12.2% French Canadians

[…] for those settlers who ventured deeper into the wilderness — I’m lookin’ at you, Francos of the Great Lakes!), they do allow scientists to link historical records with the current gene pool in a uniquely […]

Late to the game for this particular post, but I just tripped on your blog, James. Fabulous finding a blog focused on Michigan French-Canadians. Good for you! Am inordinately excited about the prospect of a French-Canadian Day in Michigan. Seems as though you had some involvement–thanks!

Thank you very much Patricia! I have been working with a group of folks over some months to get a Heritage Day named and promoted and to keep raising awareness of French Canadian culture in Michigan. Be sure to check out our Heritage Day blog too… at voyageurheritage.wordpress.com. – James

You’re right, it doesn’t seem to be practiced the same in Michigan as it is in Louisiana. I think in Louisiana, people embraced their French culture. When my grandmother was growing up in Detroit, she didn’t learn French, although both her parents spoke it. I think it’s a shame.

Of course, not being the same doesn’t mean ‘not at all.’ I have found increasingly that French Canadian culture is much more present in Michigan that we might think – it’s just not the majority culture.

I very much enjoyed your well-written and articulated article, James. And, of course, it’s so sadly true of all of our French Canadian and/or metis peoples. It was and is still true in Louisiana. Having said that, of course, Louisiana, as you noted has and retains a strongly self-conscious francophonic/creolophonic world. At the risk of sounding pedantic, however, I must caution you that Mardi Gras was never associated with the ‘Cajuns’ nor was New Orleans, historically. More recently, Cajunization commerce would present a different view. Continue your wonderful posts, work and mission. We stand in solidarity with you our ‘brothers’ the French Canadian-metis & Acadiens.

Great article, great comments! I am studying Louis Campau’s life. I knew from childhood about my maternal French connection, but after having DNA analyzed for myself and my mom, it was much stronger than I could have imagined. The mother’s genes are strong! Like Louis Campau my origins lie in Detroit, then proceed to Saginaw Bay Region, and now finally I am in Grand Rapids. The Grand Rapids area has a very strong Native American community but I am seeking out French-Canadian-Detroit people now, as I tested 0% Native American but very high French-Cdn-Detroit-Montreal settler descendant. If you are French in Grand Rapids, contact me!

Hello Stephen, I’m not sure if you will see this, as a few months have passed, but my grandmother’s family was of French Canadian descent and lived in Grand Rapids. Flemming / Flammand, Dussault, Cote, Couture, Carrier are some family names. Apparently, there was Nippising on one of the lines, as well. Possibly traced back to Jean Nicolet, although I have not put a lot of time into confirmation.

Thanks for the pep-talk. I am very proud to be of French Canadian descent & enjoy explaining the Reaume (plus dozens of other family names as so many of the French families were interconnected) influence on Michigan and specifically Detroit and Monroe area. I did not grow up w up experiencing any if the traditional foods as my grandmother was German descent and Grandpa Reaume died before I was born but I would live to learn. Thank you.